Gadgetwise Blog: A New Leef for Sharing Files to Your Phone

The Leef Bridge, a USB thumb drive, proposes to transfer files easily between computers and phones.

Transferring files from your computer to your phone can be a big hassle, especially when they don’t use the same operating system. With so many Android phones out there, it’s an annoyance a lot of people face.

The Leef Bridge, a USB thumb drive, takes a stab at the problem, and it’s a step in the right direction, even if it’s not quite there yet.

The Leef Bridge has two plugs, an standard USB on one side and a Micro USB on the other. The idea is you plug the standard side into a computer, load up the files you want. Then move the Bridge to your phone and plug in the micro USB.

It seems simple enough, but the fault in the Bridge lies not with Leef, but with the Android. Various phones handle the external drive differently and none I tried were easy, although the Samsung Galaxy S4 was easiest.

First, before you can use the Bridge, your phone (or tablet) has to run on Android’s Jelly Bean 4.1 operating system or a newer one, and the device has to accommodate the USB OTG (On-The-Go) standard. On top of that, you may need a file management software; Leef suggests Astro File Manager.

With help from Leef, I was able to use the file manager on an HTC One; the trick is not to open the manager until after you plug in the Bridge. A Samsung Galaxy S4 recognized the drive without additional software, which made the transfer easier. Using a Motorola RAZR, I was unable on my own to figure out how make a transfer, even with the file management software.

So, is this easier than using software like DoubleTwist that connects your computer and phone ? I’d say they are about equal. Both are manageable once you are over the considerable learning curve.

You may be wondering if you can do the same thing with any thumb drive and an adapter cable, like this $1.50 one from Monoprice. You can. But it still doesn’t solve the complexity of the file management system.

The Bridge might become more sensible when more phones recognize drives the way the Galaxy S4 does, or if someone were to make some smart, simple file manager. Maybe one to go specifically with the Leef (are you listening, Leef?).

In the meantime, the company said a 16GB Bridge will be available for $18, a 32 GB Bridge for $29.